Was Mining Once Sustainable? Resource Management as a Case for Applied History

Description

In the context of the current climate crisis, discussions about the sustainable use of resources are omnipresent but contradictory, so that the search for solutions often ends in political stalemates. Medieval historian Annette Kehnel sees the reason for this in the fact that the narratives are deadlocked and suggests looking to the past for inspiration for new political narratives in the sense of applied historical science. Mining history is only of limited use as a source of inspiration, as it was considered exploitative, polluting, and destructive of woodlands already in the 16th century. Accordingly, Kehnel does not give it much space. Mining in early modern Europe was indeed very ambivalent. On the one hand, with shift work, joint-stock capital and new blasting technology, it is considered a laboratory for industrialised modernity; on the other hand, it remained embedded in agrarian societies and their norms and practices. On the one hand, the actors involved pursued profit-oriented rationalisation, while on the other they were guided by magical-religious ideas and the common good. It is precisely because of this ambivalence, we argue, that the study of early modern mining can lead to new political narratives. This paper analyses both concepts of ‘mining sustainability’ circulating in Central Europe, and concrete practices of resource management in the Ore Mountains and Lower Hungary (today: Central Slovakia).To this end, we analyse sources from the context of mining administrations in the Electorate of Saxony and the Habsburg lands. We conclude by asking what an applied history of early modern resource management could look like.

Period	23 Oct 2025
Event title	Convergences and divergences in the relationship between industries and forestry in Europe: conservation, management, uses and environmental impact (14th-19th centuries)
Event type	Conference
Location	Madrid, SpainShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International